Effect of Phenolic Compounds on Viability of Wine Spoilage Lactic Acid Bacteria: A Structure-Activity Relationship Study

Abstract

The effects of wine phenolic compounds (PCs), hydroxybenzoic acids, hydroxycinnamic acids, and a flavanol, on the growth of Lactobacillus hilgardii and Pediococcus pentosaceus, both isolated from Argentine red wine, were assayed in synthetic winelike medium for the first time. The greatest inhibition of L. hilgardii 6F, L. hilgardii X1B, and P. pentosaceus 12p occurred with 400 mg/L of either trans-caffeic or trans-p-coumaric acid and 96 hr of incubation. P. pentosaceus was the most sensitive to PCs. A structure-antibacterial activity relationship study of the PCs revealed that trans-caffeic and trans-p-coumaric acid have similar electron distributions with interatomic distances of 8 Å between the catechol hydroxyls and the carboxyl group. These minimum structural requirements (pharmacophore pattern) present in the molecule of the phenolic compounds are necessary to produce antibacterial activity against wine spoilage lactic acid bacteria.